Words of love, kin and revolution

Ava Chin performs her poem “winter” at the March 20 union event “CUNY Writers Against Austerity,” in The Great Hall of the Cooper Union.

winter

(excerpt)

On the picket line we circle breath
we make track marks in the snow
And I learn more and more of her language
and protest.
Booi Got is boycott
Gee Chi is support
My Chinese is a hot pot of Marxist ideology
worker rhythms and rants
peppered with practicalities like, “Where is the bathroom?”
Mistaking the intonation for “Take this” for this “whiteness”
confusing “chicken” and “eat” for “explanation.”
Explanation.
You gave me more excuses than I asked for so
I shut the door on explanations.

Ava Chin, a Queens College alumna who currently teaches at the College of Staten Island, read her poem, “winter,” at the PSC literary event, “CUNY Writers Against Austerity: A Reading in Defense of CUNY,” which took place at The Great Hall of the Cooper Union on March 20. The event featured some 50 poets and writers who teach at CUNY.